Clintons land in Haiti to showcase industrial park

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, accompanied by, from left, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Caracol Ekam Housing site engineer Mario Nicoleau, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Haitian President Michel Martelly, tours the Caracol Ekam Housing Site in Caracol, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. Clinton, and husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrived in northern Haiti Monday leading a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities to showcase the centerpiece of the U.S. effort to help the country recover from the 2010 earthquake. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, accompanied by, from left, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Caracol Ekam Housing site engineer Mario Nicoleau, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Haitian President Michel Martelly, tours the Caracol Ekam Housing Site in Caracol, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. Clinton, and husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrived in northern Haiti Monday leading a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities to showcase the centerpiece of the U.S. effort to help the country recover from the 2010 earthquake. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool)

A government employee tests translation devices in preparation for a ceremony at the Caracol Industrial Park, in Caracol, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The Haitian government will host Hillary and Bill Clinton, a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities including Donna Karan, Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, Monday, to showcase the marquee project of the U.S. aid effort since the 2010 earthquake. The Clintons and their allies hope the $300 million facility will transform the northern part of this impoverished country by providing thousands of desperately needed jobs. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

U.S. actor and comedian Ben Stiller, center, smiles as he walks on the grounds of the Caracol Industrial Park, in Caracol, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The Haitian government will host Hillary and Bill Clinton, a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities including Stiller, Sean Penn and Donna Karan, Monday, to showcase the marquee project of the U.S. aid effort since the 2010 earthquake. The Clintons and their allies hope the $300 million facility will transform the northern part of this impoverished country by providing thousands of desperately needed jobs. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

American fashion designer Donna Karan smiles as she stands before a display of Haitian pottery at the Caracol Industrial Park, in Caracol, Haiti. The Haitian government will host Hillary and Bill Clinton, a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities including Karan, Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, Monday, to showcase the marquee project of the U.S. aid effort since the 2010 earthquake. The Clintons and their allies hope the $300 million facility will transform the northern part of this impoverished country by providing thousands of desperately needed jobs. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Haitian President Michel Martelly at the Sae-A Administration Building at the Caracol Industrial Park in Caracol, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. Clinton, and husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrived in northern Haiti Monday leading a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities to showcase the centerpiece of the U.S. effort to help the country recover from the 2010 earthquake. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool)

(AP) ? Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in northern Haiti on Monday at the head of a delegation of foreign investors and a crowd of celebrities to showcase the centerpiece of the U.S. effort to help the country recover from the 2010 earthquake.

An all-star turnout was expected for the opening of the industrial park more than 100 miles from the slowly recovering quake zone. Sean Penn, who has run his own aid effort in Haiti, was there, along with actor Ben Stiller, fashion designer Donna Karan and British business magnate Richard Branson.

Earlier, thousands of Haitians, many of them standing outside small roadside huts, waved at the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's motorcade as it wound its way from the airport. She and other U.S. officials, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, toured a housing development for industrial park workers supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Hillary Rodham Clinton told a roomful of investors that she had made Haiti a priority when she became Secretary of State.

"We had learned that supporting long-term prosperity in Haiti meant more than providing aid," she said. "It required investments in infrastructure and the economy that would help the Haitian people achieve their own dreams.

"So we shifted our assistance to investments to address some of the biggest challenges facing this country: creating jobs and sustainable economic growth," she added.

The Secretary of State noted there were three presidents gathered in one room to celebrate the opening: her husband, former American President Bill Clinton, current Haitian President Michel Martelly and his predecessor Rene Preval.

Bill Clinton, now a U.N. special envoy for Haiti, arrived in Caracol separately from his wife.

The Clintons and their allies hope that the $300 million industrial facility will transform the northern part of this impoverished country by providing thousands of desperately needed jobs.

Some Haitians have a sharply different view. They say the Caracol Industrial Park does little more than replicate failed efforts from the past and contend it will benefit outsiders more than Haitians. They also worry it will harm some of the few pieces of undamaged environment that still exist in Haiti.

"It's really all-in on this project, and there's a high bar to deliver," said Laurent Dubois, a historian who teaches at Duke University and is author of "Haiti: The Aftershocks of History." ''It really needs to deliver in a big way so that people will think, yeah, this was the right thing to do."

The stakes are high in large part because the Clintons have been so heavily involved.

The Caracol project was in the works before the earthquake but it became a top priority for the Obama administration soon after the disaster. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, has made almost monthly visits to the site on Haiti's northern coast.

Bill Clinton also took an interest. He attended the project's groundbreaking a year ago with Martelly.

The $124 million put in by the U.S. makes the park Washington's biggest single investment in the aftermath of the quake and it is certain to shape the legacy of the Clintons, who last visited Haiti together in 1975 on a wedding gift following their honeymoon in Mexico.

Monday's trip is Hillary Rodham Clinton's third to Haiti since the earthquake, and there have been more than a dozen visits by her husband, who was co-chairman of an earthquake recovery panel before its mandate ended a year ago.

The industrial park to be inaugurated by the Clintons was built on a 617-acre (250-hectare) site meant to "decentralize" Haiti's economy away from the crowded capital of Port-au-Prince and help develop the long-neglected countryside.

The anchor tenant is South Korean apparel giant Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd, which begun production in May. It has agreed to create 20,000 permanent jobs within six years and also build 5,000 houses. Backers say the entire park has the potential to generate up to 65,000 jobs in all.

Sae-A, which shipped 76,000 T-shirts to Wal-Mart in the United States on Oct. 15, says it is training 1,050 people it has hired, 70 percent of them from the area surrounding Caracol. Daniel Cho, a representative of Sae-A in Haiti, said the employees will be paid almost $5 for eight hours of work.

A local paint manufacturing company, Peintures Caraibes SA, became the second tenant in July and will export paint made by Sherwin Williams along with its own paint; production begins next month. It's supposed to hire a total of 350 people.

Details are still being worked on to bring in other tenants, but the project's architects hope its duty-free status and a 15-year tax holiday will lure more companies.

Everyone agrees Haiti needs jobs. The country of some 10 million people is among the poorest in the world, and unemployment and underemployment hover around 60 percent. The money earned by those lucky to find work is spread thin.

Despite the promises of up to 65,000 jobs at the site, and projections of possibly 133,000 more jobs through related cottage industries, the Caracol project has drawn heaps of skepticism.

Critics say it's not much different from the factories to make baseballs for the U.S. sport that were built in the 1970s and 1980s under the regime of playboy dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

Those jobs prompted thousands of farmers to leave their fields for the capital, and agricultural areas succumbed to neglect. Shantytowns like Cite Soleil emerged to house the new workers. The factories got tax breaks but there was no income to offset Duvalier's alleged plundering of state coffers.

Haiti was supposed to become the "Taiwan of the Caribbean" but instead it suffered through economic collapse brought on by political instability.

"This is: Been there, done that," Alex Dupuy, a Haiti-born sociologist who teaches at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, said of the Caracol project.

Because of the tenants' tax breaks, outside investors will have more to gain than Haitians, he said.

"This is not a strategy that is meant to provide Haiti with any measure of sustainable development ... The only reason those industries come to Haiti is because the country has the lowest wages in the region," Dupuy said.

Sae-A will pay employees Haiti's minimum wage, which is $5 a day. Workers will be eligible for bonuses based on performance.

Hillary Clinton acknowledged the controversy associated with the project last month but argued that private enterprise strengthens economies.

"You cannot have development in today's world without partnering with the private sector, and that has been our mantra, and we are now creating examples," Clinton said at her husband's Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

"Are there pitfalls? Are there problems? Of course there are ? there is with any kind of organized effort at development. But the fact is that including the private sector gives developing economies new opportunities."

Backers of Caracol stress that it will bring tens of thousands of jobs to an area where subsistence farming has long been the only alternative to migration, and Jean Cherenfant, mayor of Cap-Haitien, a seaside city 13 miles (21 kilometers) from Caracol, is among them. He sees the facility as a boon for the region.

"We don't have a lot of employers here, and we're talking about several hundred thousand jobs," Cherenfant said by telephone. "I will not go along with those people who are pessimistic."

Proponents also say they are working to address potential problems. They say they have put money into multiple communities in the north in an effort to prevent Caracol from spawning shantytowns like the ones that sprang up in Port-au-Prince decades ago. The projects include new housing, road improvements and even help for farms.

Critics point to other pitfalls, including a threat to the environment. Several studies show there is elkhorn and staghorn coral at the mouth of a bay where proposals call for a new port that would make shipping easier for Caracol's tenants.

Haiti's government will ultimately decide where, and even if, a port is built. For now, the Manzanillo port in the neighboring Dominican Republic is being used, and it could remain the port if Haiti decides not to build one.

____

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report from Caracol, Haiti.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-22-Haiti-Clintons/id-88ae717d4dfe4875833b8c7334cdd1e7

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China to expand VAT reform to more firms: vice premier

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will expand its value-added tax reform to more industries including telecommunications, railways and construction and make it nationwide, Vice Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

Li, widely regarded as China's premier-in-waiting, made the remarks at a recent conference, Xinhua said.

The government, which has been working to revamp its outmoded tax regime and help reduce costs for business, launched a trial tax reform in Shanghai a year ago to replace a business tax with a value-added tax for firms in the transportation and service industries.

China's cabinet said in July that the scheme was set to expand to more cities and provinces from August, with Beijing starting the reform on September.

"With the expansion of VAT scheme, more medium-and-small sized companies will benefit," Li was paraphrased as saying by a Xinhua report on Sunday.

China will implement the reform in post and telecommunications, railway transportation and construction industries at an appropriate time, Li added.

Chinese manufacturers currently pay a value-added tax levied on profits, while firms in the services sector pay a business tax based on sales revenues.

The current tax system has drawn criticism because some goods end up getting taxed by both the value-added tax and business tax.

(Reporting By Xiaoyi Shao and Kevin Yao; Editing by Nick Edwards)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-expand-vat-reform-more-firms-vice-premier-020950691--business.html

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Meat-loving Thais turn vegetarian for festival

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is not an easy country in which to be vegetarian. But once a year the country's avid meat eaters lay down their spicy meat stir-fries in favor of vegetables and meat substitutes.

During the annual ten-day "Tesagin Kin Pak" vegetarian festival, yellow flags representing Buddhism and good moral conduct flutter in the wind above entire neighborhoods, while tiny mobile street carts with a lone yellow flag advertise vegetarian-friendly food.

Glistening tofu, noodles with bean sprouts, desserts made with sesame and ginger and steaming hot vegetable broths abound.

"I give up meat to cleanse the spirit so that my family will prosper," said Ploy Sudham, who owns an art gallery on the outskirts of Bangkok's Chinatown.

Every year during the ninth Chinese lunar month, the country's Thai-Chinese community - often third or fourth generation Chinese who grew up in Thailand but are brought up with Chinese customs - observe ten days of abstinence.

Eating meat, having sex, drinking alcohol and other habits thought to be vices and pollutants of the body and mind are cut out entirely by the truly devoted, who also wear only white. The belief is that nine gods come down from heaven to inspect the earth and record the good and bad deeds people commit.

The festival began over 150 years ago on the popular tourist island of Phuket, some 840 km (521 miles) south of Bangkok.

Legend goes that a wandering Chinese opera troupe fell ill with malaria while performing on the island but after sticking to a strict vegetarian diet and performing rituals to two Emperor Gods the troupe made a full recovery.

Locals, impressed by what they took to be a miracle, began eating a strict vegan or vegetarian diet once a year.

Its sister festival in Bangkok's Chinatown or "Yaowarat," one of the earliest Chinese communities in Thailand, is equally deserving of a visit.

The crowded roads and winding alleys are pure chaos with their honking taxis and a handful of aggressive street hawkers. But during the festival, vegetable mania takes hold and reaches almost comic levels.

"Are you sure that's vegetarian?", asked Chanun Marukpitak, 34, a Bangkok office worker who eyes a stall of roast peanuts.

As night falls, neon signs light up. Crowds gather to watch vendors expertly throw chilli, basil and vegetables into oily woks.

Sitting quietly in the corner is Pawika Pengnineht, 75, great-grandmother to a large brood. Four generations of her family have sold food and drinks in Chinatown but that will end with her great-grandchildren, who favor office jobs.

"White symbolizes purity and by giving up animal products, which means killing living beings, we aim to start a clean slate once a year," Pawika said.

(Editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meat-loving-thais-turn-vegetarian-festival-052751140.html

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Texans beat down Ravens

Houston dominates on both sides of the ball to top Baltimore 43-13, go 6-1

Image: Baltimore Ravens v Houston TexansGetty Images

Connor Barwin of the Houston Texans sacks Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens for a safety Sunday at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

By CHRIS DUNCAN

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:57 p.m. ET Oct. 21, 2012

HOUSTON - The Houston Texans look like the new bullies in the AFC, while the Baltimore Ravens look like a mess without Ray Lewis.

Matt Schaub threw two touchdown passes, Arian Foster ran for two scores and the Texans dominated a showdown of the conference's top two teams, routing the Ravens 43-13 on Sunday.

Johnathan Joseph returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown and the Texans (6-1) finally beat Baltimore, who'd won all six previous meetings and eliminated them from last year's playoffs.

About the only positive sign for the Ravens (5-2) was the return of 2011 defensive player of the year Terrell Suggs, who saw his first action since undergoing surgery on his right Achilles tendon in May. Suggs sacked Schaub in the first quarter and finished with three tackles.

Otherwise, Baltimore's defense seemed overmatched without Lewis and cornerback Lardarius Webb, who were placed on injured reserve this week. Safety Ed Reed, who acknowledged this week that he's been playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, left in the fourth quarter with a chest injury.

The Ravens gave up their highest points total since a 44-20 loss to Indianapolis in 2007, and their offense didn't look any better.

Flacco was off-target and under pressure most of the game, Ray Rice was held to 42 yards rushing and no Baltimore receiver had a reception longer than 15 yards. Baltimore came into the game with a league-high 34 offensive plays covering at least 20 yards.

Houston, meanwhile, returned to form a week after getting embarrassed by Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay. Schaub completed 23 of 37 passes for 256 yards and the Texans set a franchise record for points in a game and finished with 420 yards.

The Ravens led 3-0, then started unraveling after Donnie Jones' punt pinned them at their own 3-yard line late in the first quarter. Connor Barwin charged in from Flacco's blind side and tackled him in the end zone for a safety and his first sack of the season.

The play seemed to ignite Houston's offense and Schaub, who needed about three series to find the weak spots in Baltimore's injury-ravaged defense. He found Johnson for a 12-yard gain, then connected with Kevin Walter for a 25-yard touchdown and a 9-3 lead.

The 6-foot-5 Watt really got Houston rolling when he swatted a Flacco pass, his ninth defensed pass of the season. Joseph caught it and sprinted to the end zone, showing no ill effects from the groin injury that forced him to miss practice time last week.

The Texans moved in big chunks on their next offensive series, as the Ravens' defense steadily deteriorated. Tight end Garrett Graham made an acrobatic 20-yard catch, Foster weaved 14 yards to the Baltimore 1 and tight end Owen Daniels made a diving catch in the end zone for a 22-3 lead.

By then, the Ravens were losing their cool. Safety Christian Thompson took a swing at Houston's Justin Forsett and was called for a personal foul, and Flacco threw incomplete on his next three throws.

Shayne Graham tacked on field goals of 33 and 29 yards to put Houston up 29-3, its largest halftime lead of the season.

Schaub completed 19 of 32 passes ? 12 in a row in one stretch ? in the first half. Flacco, meanwhile, went 7 for 20 and was sacked twice to go along with two interceptions.

Baltimore got help from a pass interference call on Joseph early in the third quarter, and Flacco found Tanden Doss for a 15-yard touchdown.

Houston turned its next series over to its workhorse running back to seep time off the clock. Foster carried seven times for 18 yards on the 7 1/2-minute drive and plowed into the end zone with 2:56 left in the third quarter. He came into the game leading the NFL in carries (149).

Foster finished with 19 carries for 98 yards.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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This Week In Small Business: Looking Stupid on Twitter - NYTimes ...

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A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Election: Binders Of Women

Small-business owners award a narrow victory to President Obama in the second debate, where it seemed the only good business is a small business. Of course, it didn?t take long for someone to songify the whole thing or for these reviews of binders for women to appear on Amazon. Matthew Yglesias urges the candidates to stop talking about small businesses and income tax rates: ?There are plenty of good ideas out there to spark small-business hiring, but to make them happen, politicians need to take a break from their obsession with arguing about the top marginal-income tax rate and look instead at payroll taxes and monetary policy.? J.D. Harrison writes a small-business guide to the upcoming election. A new survey from The Hartford finds that despite their views on the economy, small-business owners see themselves as largely successful. Oddly, gasoline prices seem to be dropping in important electoral states.

The Economy: Alarm Bells

Two Americans win Nobel prizes in economics. Business inventories increase, lifted by automobile stocks. Consumers are asking, ?What fiscal cliff?? as retail sales and industrial production rise. Gallup says economic confidence is at its highest since May. Residential building permits are strong and housing construction surges. Manufacturing in the Philadelphia area expands, but the New York region continues to contract. A forecast says global steel demand will slow next year. Inflation is up. The federal deficit tops $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. Third-quarter earnings season has just begun, but companies are already sounding alarm bells about the fourth quarter. Weekly unemployment claims rise sharply.

Marketing: 140 Characters of Stupid

Rachel Blaufeld says you should get out there and stop hiding behind your computer. Here are four simple ways to get more testimonials for your company. A new holiday card collection from Hallmark offers something for every business. More small businesses are turning to Facebook and mobile marketing to drive growth. Brad Smith explains why you need to start using Google+. Jack Wrigley compares engagement on social media to window shopping on Main Street: ?You need to pick products or services you feel will cause someone to stop, walk in the proverbial door, buy what you?re selling, and then tell everybody about it.? Gaz Copeland explains how to look stupid in 140 characters. Amy Porterfield alerts you to a little-known Facebook feature that can help you monitor customers and competitors.

Your People: Working From Home

Kaylie Astin says that the best employees don?t work because they love their company or boss; they work to advance personal goals. Hospital workers are the least healthy workers. Amazon plans to hire 50,000 holiday employees and may enter the semiconductor business. Eric C. Sinoway has thoughts on when to fire a top performer who hurts your company?s culture. This is how the worst employee ever went on to build a successful company. Here?s why your employees shouldn?t work from home. A new study says the shortage of skilled workers may be exaggerated. Here are the top 10 reasons first-time freelancers fail. The bloggers at Springwise share some outsourcing ideas.

Retail: Fashion Grows

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Cash Flow: A $41,500 Refrigerator

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Management: The Power of Criticism

Ben Horowitz explains how to make yourself a better chief executive: ?It?s important that you give people feedback because you want them to succeed and not because you want them to fail.? Deborah Shane wants to know if you are branding your competencies, characteristics and intangibles. Nadia Goodman says criticism can drive you. This is how to create a healthy balance in life. Phil Simon says you are probably forgetting something before making that big speech. Amy Jo Martin explains how Nascar uses access to build loyal fans. Holly G. Green wants you to take her test to determine if you are in the innovation danger zone. Daniel Kehrer suggests five ways to make service part of your business. A new study says that the ?Physical Internet? ? a concept in which goods are handled, stored and transported in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and the transportation industry ? would benefit the economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over half of global businesses are still constrained by paper invoices. Ashley Halligan suggests four steps nonprofits can take to establish a lasting partnership.

Red Tape: Does It Come With Fries?

Looming federal budget cuts are a big risk to small businesses that rely on government dollars. Michael Keating shares his thoughts on landing a government contract. The Internal Revenue Service offers a free tax calendar for 2013. According to this infographic, one in three small-business owners have been sued in recent years. Someone paid $9,995 for a gallon of McDonald?s Michael Jordan barbecue sauce from 1992.

Around The Country: San Francisco Empties

MSNBC?s ?Your Business? host JJ Ramberg releases a book to help small-business owners hook customers. The American Beverage Association sues New York City over the mayor?s soda ban. An Entrepreneur Roadshow at Rutgers Business School in Newark will discuss pitching investors, the media and retailers. San Francisco becomes empty in this time lapse video. Waste Management and Sam?s Club team up to provide membership discounts for small businesses. The National Federation of Independent Business takes ?I Built My Business? on tour. A guy falls 24 miles out of the sky.

Around the World: A Can of Sardines

As penalties crush the rial, Iranians point fingers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said leading indicators for the 34-nation body point to ?weakening growth in coming quarters? for most major economies. A can of sardines inspired Mark Ruiz ? a middle-class, well-educated Filipino from Quezon City, just outside Manila ? to begin his road to social entrepreneurship. The world?s most expensive cocktail is mixed in London. China?s economy shows signs of picking up after a seven-quarter slowdown. A Star Wars flash mob appears.

Technology: Bad Week On Wall Street

Wall Street is disappointed by Microsoft, Google and IBM. Intel forecasts a big drop in margins and AMD lays off 15 percent of its workforce. Heather Clancy has four more mobile app development resources for small businesses. Paul McDougall says Windows 8 beats the Mac but Brian Barrett advises against preordering Microsoft?s Surface tablet. Here are a few other projects Microsoft is working on. Best Buy plans its own tablet. The Consumer Electronics Association releases a list of technologies to watch. A new report says small businesses are underestimating cyber threats. Take a look inside Google?s data centers. As the smartphone-user population climbed over one billion this week, adoption of such wireless devices in the industrial environment is inching ever-closer to its own explosive growth period. NCR upgrades its point of sale systems.

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What separates the star #sales people & exceptional leaders is their unabridged focus on the *other* person.

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#Sales Tip: When prospects really trust you, they?ll buy what & when you tell them to.

The Week?s Bests

Jim Connolly says this is what every business owner needs to know about winning arguments: ?I often see small-business owners arguing with their customers, clients and contacts ? insisting they are right and the other person is wrong. They insist on winning the argument (imposing their opinion as the only valid one) rather than winning the client. That mindset is toxic to our business.?

Tom Ewer lays out his stress-free approach to business: ?The fact is this ? best laid plans often go awry. You cannot avoid that eventuality. Most adversities we face become nothing but a blip on the radar in time. So when dealing with business-related issues, consider them in a bigger context. How will this affect you in the long-term? Is your life?s work being destroyed, or are your goals just being pushed back by a day or two??

This Week?s Question: Have you said anything you regretted on Twitter?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/this-week-in-small-business-looking-stupid-on-twitter/

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Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golf: Additions to the Last 2 Posts

Note that the Track Alumni Reunion Weekend and Coach Groves Golf Tourney are on the Friday and Saturday May 17, 18, 2013. I have no idea how I messed that one up? The Blog Datum Procurement Specialist picked up that one for me. Much obliged!

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Here's Kevin Geesaman demonstrating that I really don't know how popular fishing is!
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Hilary Wagner: What You Gain from Public Speaking

In October 2010, when my first book came out, I was painfully nervous talking in front of groups. It didn't matter if it were kids or adults, I'd have so much anxiety I'd come close to backing out, that's how bad it got! On one occasion, I was scheduled to speak in front of 450 kids and came close to cancelling with some lame excuse, because I wasn't about to tell them it was my horrible fear of utter failure! My husband told me I had to do it. He said, he knew I was scared, but it was more important to not let the kids down, and in turn, not let down myself. He was so right! It was a rewarding experience and as soon as I got going I was fine. I still fought the anxiety for a while, but now, two years later, talking in front of groups, big or small, is such a pleasure!

I literally get goose bumps when kids sit up in their chairs and I can see them listening and thinking. And after my presentations, when kids come up and tell me about their stories and what they're writing, I can feel their excitement about writing. They ask for advice and ask me what I think about their ideas, and trust me, some of these kids have amazing ideas! They inspire ME!

Long story short, never be scared to share your story or give your advice. Even if you fall on your face, if you've inspired one writer, young or old, or they've inspired you, something amazing just happened!?

Source: http://hilarywagner.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-you-gain-from-public-speaking.html

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Hyde's OT TD keeps No. 7 Ohio State perfect, 29-22

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? Kenny Guiton came off the bench in relief of injured star quarterback Braxton Miller to lead touchdown drives in the final minute of regulation and in overtime, with Carlos Hyde scoring on a 1-yard run to clinch No. 7 Ohio State's 29-22 victory over Purdue on Saturday.

Purdue (3-4, 0-3 Big Ten) led 22-14 when Ohio State got the ball with just 47 seconds left in regulation. Guiton, inserted when Miller went out with an undisclosed injury late in the third quarter, hit Chris Fields on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds remaining. Guiton then found freshman Jeff Heuerman on the conversion pass to tie it at 22.

Hyde scored on a short plunge for Ohio State (8-0, 4-0) before Purdue's Caleb TerBush, who had two TD passes, misfired on four passes in OT.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hydes-ot-td-keeps-no-7-ohio-state-195549579--spt.html

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The Great Reality | Blog | Several types of cheap supra footwear are ...

On the whole, mesothelioma is usually a extraordinary sort of cancers. Unique variations of mesothelioma usually are notable concerning by means of the spot that the cancers is growing. Pleural mesothelioma, the most prevalent, information technology intended for 75% off mesothelioma conditions, is usually where by cancerous solar cells build within Cheap Supra Shoes the filling on the lungs.

Your next Supra TK Society purple most usual sort of mesothelioma is usually peritoneal mesothelioma Coach Outlet Christian Louboutin shoes Online and this also is usually where by cancerous solar cells Cheap Jordan Shoes mature within the peritoneum that?s the lining on the mid-section. Pericardial mesothelioma, the very least adidas soccer shoes popular important sort of mesothelioma, balances out estimated at 5% off mesothelioma conditions. It is where by malignant cancers solar cells mature within the filling on the cardiovascular system.justin bieber shoes

Many several these sorts of mesothelioma usually are attributable to asbestos. Asbestos is usually a by natural means transpiring fibrous nutrient that had been observed about the 1860s. Car without any hugely practical property or home of being fireproof, asbestos seemed to be utilised enormously with structure from the 1920s, 1930s in addition to 1940s. It had been definitely not till the beginning 1960s in the event the critical health risks of which asbestos reasons were being observed, of which asbestos ended being utilized.

As soon as come across asbestos having lack of safeguard anyone will probably inhale teeny asbestos fibres which might be halted from the fresh air. Most of these fibres cross into your breathing until finally many people come to be located new jordan shoes from the filling on the lungs. After some time, an accumulation these asbestos fibres from the lungs could potentially cause pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos fibres also can cross into your lymphatic process and grow carried to help often the lining on the mid-section or maybe this tissues encompassing the very center. This can lead to often peritoneal mesothelioma or maybe pericardial mesothelioma.

With regard to indicators, this several key sorts of mesothelioma have any indicators in keeping jointly. Most of these indicators usually are regular off several forms: breasts agony, shortness connected with breath of air, coughing, paying out our blood, nausea or vomiting, queasieness, fat reduction in addition to decrease in desire for foods. An extra warning sign connected with pericardial mesothelioma is usually palpitations.

Here are a few cures for everyone sorts of mesothelioma although nothing these employ a excessive achievements pace. The effectiveness of supra shoes process will depend on the way beginning in addition to the way more boldly this cancers is usually cared for. Should the cancerous solar cells usually are cared for whenever they include thoroughly full grown in addition to formulated subsequently it truly is impossible of which treatment protocols will likely be effective.

Treatment protocols include things like chemotherapy that?s the employment of prescription drugs to help get rid of this cancers, radiation therapies which often relies on a radiation quantity to help get rid of down cancerous solar cells in addition to surgical procedures which often endeavors to find extended management above the cancers by means of doing away with a substantial component of malignant solar cells. Most of these treatment protocols is usually merged such as combined therapies.

Source: http://www.thegreatreality.net/2012/10/20/several-types-of-cheap-supra-footwear-are-usually-known?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=several-types-of-cheap-supra-footwear-are-usually-known

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Reaching Your Self Improvement Goals With Ease

Posted by admin - October 20th, 2012

Self improvement is an important part of being the best that you can be. This can range from developing better personal finances or a healthier lifestyle. The importance of this self-improvement cannot be overstated. Personal development is a process that never ends, since you always have areas in which you could be better. You are sure to have a much happier and healthier life if you find a way to develop and maintain good habits every day.

Knowing that you deserve only the best is incredibly important in self improvement. Commit to taking good care of yourself by providing yourself with only the best. When all is said and done, you will realize that you have done everything that you can possibly do, and that you will not regret the decisions that you have made.

Dealing with situations rationally is a skill that you can learn from others or teach yourself. If you can remain calm during stressful situations, you will feel confident enough to face anything. Make the time to stop and breathe.

Act with your core values in place. Each person has a set of beliefs that determine who they are. If you have good reason to have these beliefs, you will feel more confident and grow your self esteem by adhering to these beliefs and principles. This will also help you develop consistency.

Put thought into what you want to get out of life, and make a plan and go for it. If you sit in your chair thinking about how you would like your life to be, and you do nothing to make it happen, you will never get that life. You need to step up and pursue your goals to make them really happen.

Plenty of employers are more concerned with the fact that you have a degree, rather than what school you attended. The exceptions to this include high-finance type jobs, in which graduation from an Ivy League school adds cachet to your credentials. The most important thing though, is to have a degree.

No one is perfect, and we all make bad food choices sometimes. Try to do better next time, and don?t worry about that cheesecake you had last night. Today is a new day.

It may become discouraging to begin developing better personal habits and lifestyles, but once you start noticing your life developing towards a better future, you will never want to stop. You can always develop better ways to do things and it?s important to always try hard towards any self improvement goals you have.

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Source: http://www.ecoc2006.org/reaching-your-self-improvement-goals-with-ease/

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